by Effie Moore Salem

Created on: July 07, 2008   Last Updated: May 03, 2012

Pandas, native to China, are known to the Giant cat bear. They are so named because in their actions they behave as cats. At least in some of their actions. The one that wins for them this alternative name is their ability to shinny up a long tall tree quickly to get away from danger. Possibly some disturbance is causing a near panda panic and rather than stand around and engage in battle they take refuge in a giant tree top.

Nature decided this protective device for these amazing bears to preserve them from extinction. There are only about 600 hundred or so in existence today. Their natural habitat - high mountainous areas with large growths of bamboo - is being destroyed by the encroachment of humans who are invading their territory and building their own homes in these quaint mountainous areas. Giant cat bears are native to the high Tibetan areas of China and are found at no other place; except of course in zoos and even there these endangered species are sparse.

Pandas are a natural treasure of China and they are now working to see that they do not disappear from their midst. In 1987, The San Diego Zoo negotiated the loan of two of these giant bear cats to their zoo. These two, a male and a female, Bai Yun and Shi Shi gave birth to Hue Mai and what a royal event it was. With this success, the first to survive when born in captivity was the incentive needed to further their research. The scientific name for the bear cat, or giant panda is Ailuropoda melanoluca. Placing the Chinese bear cat or the giant panda in its correct place in the classification system was not an easy process. It took many years of research since it was such an unusual animal. It was identified as belonging to the bear family only when its genes finally answered their questions about its identity.

In looks some thought it resembled a raccoon, yet larger, and by its actions the Chinese thought it resembled a cat since it had such an uncanny ability to climb trees, and its desire to live alone and to be wary of others, even of other pandas. In feeding it resembles only itself because it eats only bamboo. Without this food source it cannot live. Its stomach and intestines are designed to digest all parts of the bamboo, even the splintering stalks.

Bear cats do not hibernate. The cannot store up enough food as the other bears do to keep them alive during cold periods as other bears do in order to survive, they descend to warmer areas. This lack of the necessary bamboo in these warmer areas

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